Sunday: saw “Ocean’s Thirteen.” Nothing spectacular – the plot’s kind of “huh?” – Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Friends are back in Las Vegas to pull off a scheme to make up for Al Pacino’s character’s screwing their fellow cohort, Reuben (played rather amusingly by Elliot Gould). The movie’s still pretty slick to watch (I kind of liked “Ocean’s 12” and certainly enjoyed “Ocean’s 11” – haven’t seen the original “Ocean’s 11” with Frank Sinatra, but oh well). The guys are good-looking as ever – drool-worthy Mr. Clooney and Brad Pitt; Matt Damon and the rest funny to watch. At the very least, there’s something fun watching the guys having fun with each other. The womenfolk (well, Julia Roberts anyway) aren’t in the movie this time, with only Ellen Barkin taking up the Woman in the movie – she was ok, but it was more about watching the Guys, of course. I’d give the movie a B grade – a good watch.
An icky NYC summer day this Tuesday.
I suppose we could feel bad for Kobayashi, the Hot Dog Eating contestant whose jaw injury is preventing him from this year’s Nathan’s July 4th contest.
This is a story that’s getting around: “Giants penguins may have roamed Peru.” The headline alone is kind of amusing – prehistoric Giant Penguins on the Earth. The imagery – big beaks waddling around, or swimming really really fast. Like, what? Saber-tooth tigers ate them? Or maybe they ate saber-tooth tigers and woolly-mammoths?
MTA makes the (unsurprising) study that concludes that the A, 1,2,3,4,5 are fully crowded to capacity and no more subways and frequent rides can be put on the lines (insert sarcastic “yeah, we all love congested subway tunnels”), whereas the J, M, Z are barely used and are 99% on time. Um, what kind of genuises figured that out? Geez, now the next step is to figure out how to ease the crowded lines and make better use of the unused lines.
“The Genius of P.G. Wodehouse,” a Newsweek web exclusive. Well, I’m certainly partial to the silliness of Bertie Wooster and the whole Jeeves to the rescue – at least actors Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry made Bertie and Jeeves fun. Wodehouse’s writing – it’s clever, but I kind of would have liked more heart.
The Case of the DC ALJ Who Sued the Dry Cleaners is dismissed. Thank goodness. Now can we please restore some dignity to the profession, please?
This story on how doctors who refuse to give treatment because it conflicts with their religion — well, it’s kind of disturbing to me. I won’t go into the legal implications (I’m hardly an expert), but the article depressed me. There’s more than just a hint of double standard to this – so, you might have a doctor who would refuse to prescribe birth control to a rape victim (!) or conduct an abortion because of religious reasons; but no problem (or have no similar moral qualms) on prescribing Viagra to a man (whose only real use for Viagra is well – you know…)? The disproportionate effect on women and their health just doesn’t feel right to me.